Consumer Focus response to MSE posts on E.On 'Spring review' DD scheme

jalexa

poet123 wrote: »

They offered me £50 goodwill gesture, but I declined and so they are still searching their files for how the DD was set at that figure.

In your more recent post you asked "Where do I go from here?"

Its really up to you but I think you are confusing (or combining) an alleged initial misselling issue with this thread's issue which is "spring alignment" and SLC27.

Your choices are to continue the complaint (about E.ON) to deadlock and then ask the Energy Ombudsman to consider E.ON's conduct or to accept the £50, pay off the debit balance and learn a lesson. Up to you. Personally I have never experienced initial DD not to be accurately set for the annual consumption claimed during the comparison when using either uSwitch or TheEnergyShop. I think there must have been an unusual set of circumstances. to cause this issue. I do not however believe that E.ON has knowingly deflated the initial fixed regular payment to gain the business as you suggest. I say that because the initial comparison is calculated by the comparison website, not the supplier.

[Later edit (12/02/2012) because I'm still not 100% clear who performs the subsequent DD calculation and on what data, however the "business winning" calculation is definately done by the comparison website]

One thing I did notice about your original post is that the debit balance arose over a whole year. If it is the case that E.ON did not issue bills or requests for meter readings for a whole year then perhaps you might have a good question to ask, but again it would be highly unusual for both supplier and consumer not to have been interested in at least quarterly actual meter readings.

poet123

A few points;

Once the saving figures has been accepted on Uswitch you go through to the E.On website for them to set the monthly payment based on the info you give, which in my case was usage of £200pcm, for that usage they gave me a DD of £141.

We joined in November with a clean slate, so the bills were due for review in spring which apparently was never done, we had meter readings, and I assumed any deficit would even itself out over the 12 monthly period. I was never told about the DD spring zero balance policy, nor was it implemented.

In November (the anniversary) the deficit was £400, at that point they put my DD up to £207, and in a call I was assured this would cover the deficit and usage. Clearly wrong, as now it is apparent that usage alone requires £230, so the deficit was not addressed, and is still not being addressed, yet that is their own calculation, which again we relied upon.

If SLC 27 states that a licensee should be able to clearly tell a customer how their DD was calculated that surely applies at point of sale as much as later in the contract? They cannot now tell me how they arrived at that figure, but they did, and we trusted them to provide the goods at that price.

I certainly have learned a lesson, but it is not one I should have had to learn, I should have been able to rely upon the the fact that the info asked for would result in a correct comparision, that the info was checked as being sufficient by the supplier, that the figures quoted were a true reflection of what they could provide for that amount, that their staff know what they are talking about, etc, etc.

jalexa

poet123 wrote: »

We joined EON from EDF in October 2010. I had input the monthly payment figures for dual fuel as £200pcm. Uswitch (who EON are now blaming) calculated a saving of £600pa by a switch to EON. So we moved over and DD was set at £141 pcm.

The uSwitch comparison requires seperate fuel costs. How did you work out from the existing £200pcm dual fuel cost what the individual fuel costs were for the comparsion?

poet123

jalexa wrote: »

The uSwitch comparison requires seperate fuel costs. How did you work out from the existing £200pcm dual fuel cost what the individual fuel costs were for the comparsion?

I gave them the breakdown of each bill from my EDF quote, actually I increased my elec costs by £10 to £90, but regardless of breakdown the overall figure should cover the overall costs. It didn't.

This is a copy of my dd payments to EDF just prior to the switch in November 2010.


28 Oct 10EDF ENERGY ELEC DD
80.0001 Oct 10EDF ENERGY GAS DD
110.0028 Sep 10EDF ENERGY ELEC DD
80.0003 Sep 10EDF ENERGY GAS DD
110.00

In fact on checking the last payments they credited me with £39 for electric, and the final bill for gas was £88, which shows the payments were correct.

24 Nov 10EDF ENERGY ELECBGC39.30
16 Nov 10EDF ENERGY GAS DD
88.29

Blackdog

backfoot wrote: »

Blackdog,

When did you first join Eon?

Have Consumer Focus given you any feedback ? Are you in touch with Colin Urquart about your case?

You have provided the precise evidence I talked about regarding Eon only giving generic explanations when your DD was raised and indeed after your complaint.

Also the unsympathtetic treatment that you must clear the balance immediately to resume your DD arrangement is not a valid complaint process.(basically bullying tactics)

Eon have no contractual term requiring this and you clearly should have been allowed to have the Debit balance recovered over a fair period of time and given a full calculation showing this and predicted charges. (even to your spring review).

I think your case is symptomatic of that sufferred by many eon customers and we need to ensure your case is looked at carefully by CF.

I first joined Eon in January 2011 and I renewed my contract in December 2011. I did not get an acknowledgment or reply from Consumer Focus and have not heard of David Urquart.

backfoot

Blackdog wrote: »

I first joined Eon in January 2011 and I renewed my contract in December 2011. I did not get an acknowledgment or reply from Consumer Focus and have not heard of David Urquart.

I think it is Colin Urquart. It is disappointing that whoever it was received by at CF that no response has been received.

Will the CF Rep please tell us what their process is or provide further details such a direct number so blackdog can get in touch.

DirectDebacle

Blackdog wrote: »

I first joined Eon in January 2011 and I renewed my contract in December 2011. I did not get an acknowledgment or reply from Consumer Focus and have not heard of David Urquart.

Blackdog wrote: »

Here is an update on my own case which I had originally posted on another thread and emailed Customer Focus about.
I was £64 in debit and Eon informed me that they were going to increase my DD from £72 to £116. I emailed them to complain and after about a week they phoned me to say that if I wasn't happy about the increased DD then I would have to pay the debit balance. I therefore agreed to pay £64 by debit card over the phone and was told my DD would then be £80 which I thought was a fair amount. However they said that it was too late to change my January DD which they had already increased to £116 (which is very unfair because if they had responded to me quicker they would have had time to adjust the Jan DD). So in January I ended up paying £180!
In the same phone conversation I asked if the 6% decrease in electricity would apply to my tariff and they assured me that there would be a decrease but they couldn't tell me how much which is a bit strange as they clearly had made some assumptions on what the cost would be to set my DD. Since then I have found out that the discount will be around 1% so much less than the headline rate of 6%.

From your posts it isn't entirely clear that there is evidence of your DD payments being inflated by the zero spring balance policy. However there is evidence of some apparently inaccurate estimates of annual costs.

You joined in Jan. 2011 and DD @ £72.00. Was this amount adjusted from a lower original DD because of price changes in 2011?

Had this account run its course the 12th payment would have been collected in Jan 2012 assuming the first DD was collected in Feb 2011.

You entered into a new contract late Dec. 2011 and the balance was in debit by £64.00. It would seem that the DD was slightly low or there was a marginal increase in usage or a combination of the two and also possibly no adjustment for the price increases, which may have contributed to this defecit.

Upon the new contract commencing the DD is set at £116.00. which would collect £1392 over the 12 payments.

Your previous usage cost £856. 11 payments @ £72 (Feb 11-Dec11 incl. +£64 debt.)

You complain to E.On that the DD is too high and you agree that a new figure of £80.00 is about right for the year if the outstanding £64.00 is paid.

Your annual costs are now expected to be approx. £960.00 per annum. If you take into account the increased prices from Jan 2011 and the counterbalancing reduced consumption, due to this years comparatively mild winter, does this seem about right to you.

This is all a bit speculative as you have only given us DD amounts and no consumption information in kWh.

You need to press E.On for a full and detailed breakdown of the basis upon which the DD amount of £116.00 was calculated.

Do not be fobbed off by them. The data will exist as they used it to calculate and collect the amount from your A/C. If they are unable to provide it then they have problems.

It may be useful to request what your zero spring balance date (or anniversary balancing date) was set to for Jan. 2011/Jan. 2012 contract and also for your current contract.

These sort of enquiries cannot be satisfactorily met over the phone. Put your request in writing, either recorded snail mail, email or both.

As far as C.F. goes they will need full information as to what has been going on with your DD, in particular the evidence you have of your DD being affected by their zero spring balance policy. They may ask for further info. e.g. dates and amounts of adjustments and reasons given (or lack of them). Copies of bills/statements/change of DD explanations, would be useful.

The person dealing with the matter is Colin Urquhart.

I cannot explain why your original email has been unanswered. You can send another to enquire if it was received.

Blackdog

Thanks DirectDebacle. I will write to Eon as you say to request more information. I will send a copy to Colin Urquhart at CF and offer the additional information that you have suggested.
As far as the CF rep is concerned they have certainly been absent on this forum for some time.

DirectDebacle

I would suggest you hold that information back until such time as you have had a full explanation from E.On. You will know then whether your DD has been affected in any way by their zero spring balance policy or if it is because of some other anomaly.

CF rarely post on this Forum. They have in so many words invited customers who have evidence of the adverse affect of the zero spring balance policy to get in touch. They are not offering a bill/DD checking service so at best any info they receive that is not related to the subject of this thread may be ignored by them, referred to Consumer Direct or back to the sender. I know not, but C.F. generally do not deal with individual customers as that is the role of Consumer Direct, Ombudsman Services (energy) and of course the suppliers own complaints dept.

Blackdog

Ok, that all makes sense. I will write to Eon for an explanation next. Thanks for your advice.